Compensation seen as `joke'

Vienna - The Austrian parliament yesterday unanimously passed a bill to compensate the victims of Nazi forced labour policies…

Vienna - The Austrian parliament yesterday unanimously passed a bill to compensate the victims of Nazi forced labour policies during the second World War but a key US lawyer for Holocaust victims, Mr Ed Fagan, condemned it as a "joke".

The legislation will create a fund of six billion schillings (€433 million) paid into by the Austrian state and industry, to compensate the estimated 150,000 survivors of the million forced labourers.

  • Join The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date

  • Sign up for push alerts to get the best breaking news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone

  • Listen to In The News podcast daily for a deep dive on the stories that matter